From Mafioso to Pirate

Chapter 6: The Man Who Will Be Pirate King

XXX

After leaving the restaurant, Luffy had run off towards the base, shouting at the other two to hurry up as he left them behind. Lambo sighed and followed after him, his longer legs causing him to quickly leave Coby behind.

He pondered for a moment whether to stop and wait for him to catch up, but quickly decided against it. He was sure Coby knew his way back to the base. And besides, Luffy was the one who actually needed someone to come with him and make sure he didn't do anything stupid. From what Lambo had seen so far, Luffy was definitely the "jump first, think later" type of character.

By the time he got there and climbed to the other side of the wall, Luffy was already there, talking to Zoro.

"You again?" The man sneered. "Don't you have anyone else to bother?"

"I'm gonna untie you, and then you'll become my nakama," Luffy declared with a kind of certainty that Lambo had rarely seen even Reborn pull off.

Zoro gave him a look of confusion. "What?"

"I'm looking for nakama to join my pirate crew."

"Like hell!" Zoro immediately responded, giving the boy a death glare. "You want me to lower myself to the level of those scum? Fat chance..."

Luffy frowned. "What's wrong with being a pirate?"

"They're the scum of the earth! Who'd want to be that?"

"By that logic, I suppose you're saying that Marines are the exact opposite, right?" Lambo spoke up as he walked towards them, prompting them to look at him.

Zoro sent him a glare, but didn't say anything.

"And everyone already thinks you're some evil villain, anyway," Luffy added in. "So what difference does it make if you're a pirate or not?"

The green-haired man scoffed before smirking. "I don't care what society thinks of me. I've never done a single thing I've regretted. I'm going to survive this and fulfill my dream!"

"Oh, I see," Luffy said with a nod before he grinned and crossed his arms. "But I've already decided that you'll be my nakama."

"You didn't even ask!" Zoro shouted at him incredulously before turning to Lambo, who had just rolled his eyes at the statement. "Is he always like this?"

"From what I've seen, yes," Lambo sighed. "So where's your weapon? You use a katana, right?"

Zoro frowned. "Yeah, but that Marine's bastard son took everything I had."

"No problem. We'll just get it back for you," Luffy declared, causing the other man to look at him with wide eyes.

"What?"

"But if you want it, you'll have to join my crew!" The straw-hat boy laughed before running towards the base, giving a shout of, "Come on, Lambo!"

"H-Hey, you two aren't really going to bust in there all by yourselves, are you?" Zoro asked with wide eyes.

Lambo shrugged. "Well, Luffy already took off, so I can't really say no now, can I? We'll be back as soon as we can." And with that, he took off, leaving the swordsman staring after him.

Meanwhile, on the roof, Morgan stood and watched as his men struggled to pull up an enormous statue made to represent himself.

Morgan was a giant monster of a man with tanned skin and blonde hair the same hue as his son's, and he was wearing the uniform of a high-ranking Marine. The disturbing features about him were that his lower jaw was covered in metal and one of his arms had been replaced with a deadly metal axe.

"Daddy!" Helmeppo whined. "Why aren't you going after those guys?! One of them punched me! Even you've never hit me before!"

"...That's right, I haven't," Morgan stated, not turning around. "And do you know why?"

"H-Huh? W-Well, it's because I'm your-"

"It's because you're..." Morgan interrupted, whirling around and clipping the side of his son's face with his one real hand, sending him flying to the other side of the roof. "Not even worth hitting! You're a disgrace!"

Helmeppo squirmed as his father walked towards him, a demonic expression on his face.

"Let's get one thing straight," Morgan grabbed his son by the front of his shirt and forced him to look him in the eyes. "Your father is the one who's great. Not you, understand?" Seeing his son give a shaky nod, he let him go, letting him fall onto the cold, stone ground. "I heard someone snuck into the crucifixion yard today."

"H-Her? That kid? I took care of her!"

"Did you kill her?"

Helmeppo's eyes widened. "N-No! She's just a little girl!"

Morgan gave him a look of disgust before turning to one of his Marines. "You, go into town, find that girl, and execute her."

"I-I can't do that! She's just a child! I cannot follow that order, Captain!"

"Age doesn't matter! Anyone who disobeys my order is a traitor! Now, do as you're told!"

"I... I cannot!"

There was no warning. Morgan's axe tore through the flesh of the man's torso as he was sent crumbling to the floor, a rapidly growing pool of blood forming underneath him.

"Y-You killed him!" Helmeppo shouted as he and the Marines stared at the fallen man in horror.

"Listen up!" He shouted at all of them. "I've reached the rank of Captain thanks to this arm. Your title means everything in this world! As the highest-ranking Marine in this base, I am the greatest man here! Therefore, everything I do is just! Isn't that right?"

"Y-Yes, Sir!"

"I'll kill that kid later," he declared before turning back to the statue. "This statue is a symbol of my power! Now, erect it! It will occupy the highest point of this base!"

"That's weird, there's nobody around here," Luffy remarked as he ran around the length of the building.

Lambo finally had enough of all the running around he had been forced to do to follow Luffy and grabbed the other by the shoulder, forcing him to stop. "Luffy, even if you find a Marine, there's no way that they would just lead you to their captain!" He said in frustration.

"Really?" Luffy asked, looking genuinely surprised by the statement.

"Yes, really!" Lambo shouted before sighing. Now that he no longer had to struggle to keep up with the other boy, he looked around and frowned. "Still, it's pretty weird that there isn't a single guard around. I wonder if they're doing something inside?"

Luffy looked up and frowned. "I hear shouting coming from up there."

Lambo blinked and followed his gaze up to the roof. "Really? That must be where they all are, then. We should probably avoid going up there."

"But they might know where Zoro's sword is!" Luffy protested. "I think we should have a look!"

"Don't be stupid, they'll attack us the moment we get there," the other boy protested. Seeing that Luffy wasn't going to be swayed, however, he resolved to use a different tactic. "The base is probably locked up anyway, so how would you even get up there?"

"I'll just blow the door down."

"It's made of pure metal! You'll just end up hurting yourself!"

"No way! I'm strong!"

Lambo groaned. "Let's just...find another way, alright?" He asked, calming himself down.

"Alright, I know another way to get up there!"

"I meant another way to get Zoro's sword," Lambo stated, but the other boy was no longer listening.

"Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy began.

"What are you..." Lambo trailed off as Luffy's arm began to stretch, reaching the very top of the building and grabbing onto the ledge of the roof.

Lambo stared for a moment, closed his eyes, counted to five, and opened them again.

Nope, he wasn't hallucinating.

'What the hell?'

Luffy seemed to take the fact that Lambo's hand was still on his shoulder as a sign that he wanted to come, too. With his free arm, he grabbed Lambo tightly around the waist.

"ROCKET!"

As the wind rushed past him and the ground grew farther and farther away, only one thought made it through Lambo's dazed mind.

'I have no idea what's going on anymore.'

One broken statue and kidnapping later, the two boys were running down one of the halls of the base.

Finally breaking out of his stupor, Lambo glanced at Luffy (who was dragging a screaming and whining Helmeppo) and shouted. "Hey, Luffy, what the hell was that?!"

"What?" Luffy asked, looking back at him in confusion.

"Your arm! How did you make it do that?!"

"Oh, that." Luffy grinned at him. "I'm a rubberman!"

Lambo just stared at the grinning boy in complete disbelief before finally letting out a sigh. He had seen many strange things during his time with the Vongola Family. And although a man made of rubber was a bit much even for their standards, he was able to bounce back fairly quickly.

"I'm definitely going to need an explanation for this one later." Seeing Luffy nod, he turned his attention to the man currently being dragged across the floor. "Hey, Purple Bowl-Head, where's Zoro's sword?"

"Wh-What did you just call me?!" The blonde asked in outrage. "Ow! Stop dragging me!"

"Only if you tell us where the sword is!" Luffy shouted back.

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you! Please, just stop!"

The straw-hat boy finally stopped running, frowning down at the barely conscious man. "Okay, where is it?"

Helmeppo weakly pointed in the opposite direction from where they were running. "It's in my room... You just passed it..."

Luffy frowned and bonked the man on the head, earning a yelp of pain. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"Now we'll have to drag you all the way back," Lambo added in, causing the man to let out a yell of protest.

"FREEZE!"

"Well, this isn't good," Lambo muttered as he and Luffy turned to face a group of three Marines, all pointing guns at them.

"Release Helmeppo-sama!"

"What now, Luffy?" The cow-clad boy asked, only for his eyes to widen in surprise and slight amusement when Luffy lifted Helmeppo up and held him in front of them, like a human shield.

"No. But if you still wanna shoot, go ahead."

Helmeppo's eyes widened in shock and horror. "Ah! No! Stop! DON'T SHOOT!"

And with that, Luffy and Lambo went barreling past the Marines, the blond screaming all the way.

"Please escape, Zoro-san!" Coby said, struggling to undo the knots holding Zoro's right arm in place.

"Hey! If you untie me, they'll kill you!" Zoro said urgently, looking around to make sure that no one saw them.

"I can't stand watching the Marines act like this anymore!" Coby shouted back in determination. "I want to be a good Marine!"

"Stop it! I'm not gonna run away! I only have ten days left!"

"They're going to execute you tomorrow."

Zoro's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?!"

"Helmeppo never intended to keep his promise. He was bragging about how he was going to execute you, so Luffy-san got mad and punched him."

"He did...?"

"Luffy-san and Lambo-san are probably being chased by the Marines now. I'm not going to ask you to become a pirate, but please help them."

"..."

"I think that they're the only ones who can save you now. And you're the only one who can save them."

As soon as he finished talking, a 'BANG' resounded in the air. Zoro's eyes widened when Coby let out a scream of pain and landed on the ground with a solid thump, one hand clutching his shoulder, which was oozing blood.

"Ah! I've been shot! I'm gonna die!" Coby shouted, tears falling from his eyes.

Hearing footsteps, Zoro turned to see a group of Marines, all with guns aiming at him. Morgan stood behind them, glaring at the two darkly.

"For the crime of treason against me, you both will be executed right here and now!"

Luffy and Lambo screeched to a halt in front of a wooden door that had a pink and flowery sign hanging from it which read "My Room."

"This must be the place," Luffy remarked with a smile as he opened the door.

Stepping inside, Lambo's eye twitched when he was bombarded with pink. A pink bed, a pink dresser, there was even a pink vanity with make up on it. If Lambo had thought that Helmeppo had any masculinity to speak of, that assumption would most likely be dead now. His eyes then quickly caught three out-of-place looking swords at the far end of the room.

"One of these must be Zoro's," he said, walking over to the three swords and examining them.

"Hey, you, which of these is Zoro's?" Luffy demanded from Helmeppo. Hearing no response, he looked down at where he was still holding onto him and frowned. "He's unconscious, huh? What a weakling."

"Well you did drag him across the carpet like some kind of rag doll. Not to mention we passed by this room five times before I finally stopped you," Lambo remarked, sighing when the other just grinned and laughed.

"We should just take all of them," The straw-hat boy stated, letting go of Helmeppo, who fell to the ground with a groan of pain, and walking over to grab the swords.

"Might as well. I doubt any of them belong to him, anyway," Lambo answered as he turned his attention towards the window. His eyes then widened in horror.

"Luffy!"

Luffy frowned at Lambo's sudden change of tone and hurried over to the window to see what had made the other react that way. His eyes widened when he came upon the sight of Zoro and a bleeding Coby surrounded by gun-wielding Marines. "Coby!"

"We'll never make it in time if we go back the way we came!" Lambo said before turning and taking the swords from Luffy, who looked at him in confusion. "I'll hold the swords, so you use those rubber powers of yours to get us down there!"

The other grinned. "Right!"

"This has been an interesting day," Morgan remarked. "Are you conspiring with those other two?"

Zoro sent the man a death glare. "I always fight my battles alone! I don't hide behind a bunch of expendable Marines like you do!"

"Don't underestimate me, Roronoa Zoro! You're no match for my power! Take aim!"

Coby yelped and Zoro's eyes widened in horror as the guns all aimed at them.

'I...'

"FIRE!"

'I CAN'T DIE HERE!'

"GOMU GOMU NO ROCKET!"

Lambo winced as he landed on the ground beside Coby, who looked at him in shock. Quickly looking back up, his eyes widened when he saw Luffy land right in the line of fire, arms spread out to protect the people behind him as each of the bullets hit him head on.

"Luffy!"

"Luffy-san!"

"You!"

The shock and terror the three boys felt quickly turned into bewilderment as they watched Luffy's skin stretch before the bullets were bounced back at full force, narrowly missing the gaping Marines.

"That won't work!" Luffy shouted, laughing at everyone's stunned expressions. "Told you I was strong!"

'Holy crap, he's bulletproof,' Lambo thought, watching in awe as not even a mark was left on the boy's skin.

"Just who the hell are you?!" Zoro shouted.

Luffy turned to look at him, his grin rivaling the sun itself. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm the man who'll become Pirate King!"

Lambo didn't really understand what it was, but at that moment, as he stared in awe at this idiotic boy with his ridiculous power, he genuinely believed him.